Founding year: the first Sneedville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Sneedville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sneedville is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sneedville’s overall grade.
Tennessee towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Tennessee town has 6.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Sneedville’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (16% of Tennessee towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Sneedville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Settlement began in the 1790s, following the American Revolutionary War, as migrants moved into the area from the Piedmont frontiers of Virginia and North Carolina. Such migrants had formed families in colonial Virginia. Among them was a biracial group of settlers who became known as Melungeons. They have been documented as having primarily European and Black African ancestry.
Sneedville’s post office has been open since 1848.
Gone or out of use
Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Number 26localeHancock County Hospitalhospital
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Sneedville
AlderBakerCampbellDavisDe BordHarrison
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Sneedville’s history
What year was Sneedville founded?
The Sneedville post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Sneedville rank for history?
Sneedville is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Sneedville?
5% of Sneedville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 4.9% for a Tennessee town; the median home was built in 1978.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
